Expected Friends: Unexpected Problems

by Sleepyted

Prologue

“Twilight, when you get angry you can’t punch the other pony,” Luna stated as she sat upon her throne, hoof rubbing her eyes tiredly. “Even if they keep do touching your wings…”

Twilight sat down on the marble floor in front of the throne, two uncomfortable looking royal guards sitting either side of her.

“I took it off because it gets uncomfortable sometimes…" The purple alicorn mumbled as she looked down at the floor in shame. "And I don’t think taking it counts as just ‘touching’”

Luna sighed sadly before turning her attention to the guards.

“Leave us.” She stated, all guards snapping to attention before bowing and leaving. Once the guards had all left the room, she stood from her throne and slowly descended the stairs. “I don’t envy what you went through… and I know that you had to adjust in order to survive in such a hateful place. But it isn’t like that in Equestria, you know that…”

“I know…” Twilight said softly, still not looking up.

“If it keeps happening, ponies might want you thrown in prison… you’re lucky this stallion isn’t pressing charges,” Luna said. “It might be worth thinking of anger management, on top of the therapy that we’ve already set up.”

Twilight grimaced at the thought of the ‘therapist’. She was meant to be the best in Equestria but was nowhere near good enough to help with Twilight with the nightmares she was having. What she ended up with instead was a mare that treated her like a foal with a bit of an attitude, and that really pissed the princess off.

“When you go outside you need to say sorry to the stallion,” Luna stated. “Then go home and spend time with your friends, maybe read a book, do something calming.”

The purple pony princess just sighed and nodded, not wanting to get into an argument even if she knew she was in the right.

Walking out of the hall she saw her six worried friends, as well as a sore looking Pegasus stallion with a brace around his neck and one of his forehooves in a sling. Walking up to said stallion she looked at him.

“Sorry for attacking you, Thunderlane,” She mumbled.

“It’s okay… the princesses are paying for my medical bills,” He said, his voice rough and croaky from being punched in the throat.

Nodding, Twilight turned and approached her worried friends.

“Let’s go home," she said, "I’m tired…”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Twilight spent the train ride in silence, her head resting on a hoof as she watched the clean and colorful landscape speed past. The bright greens and blues of everything seemed almost surreal to her after having been stuck in the Mojave where everything was mostly brown and grey, or a mixture of both.

Her friends, meanwhile, were all huddled together as they watched the princess. She had been acting like a completely different pony since she came back, being extremely easy to anger and prone to violence. She had also seemingly lost interest in things she used to care about, and refused to lease her house without some type of weapon on her. The knife wasn't a huge issue, as it was easily hidden, but when she had that loud 'L' shaped weapon on her ponies knew to avoid her.

Deciding that just hiding from the problem would solve nothing Rainbow stood from her seat and trotted over to the princess, taking a seat beside her.

“I don’t think I’ve seen Thunder that beat up since we had that weather accident a few years back," Rainbow said, lounging back in the seat. "Were you like that over in that other place?”

“Don’t try to make her feel bad, darling," Rarity said, approaching the two with a glare as she scolded the colorful pegasus. "It's already bad enough that she had to resort to violence, we don’t need her to be mopey on top of that.”

“No, I did mess him up pretty badly,” Twilight stated with a bitter chuckle. Pulling a metal flask out of her saddlebag, she unscrewed the top and took a sip of the burning liquid to mellow her out.

“Should ya be drinkin' at this time of day?” Applejack asked, approaching the group to voice her concerns.

“Probably not,” Twilight stated as she took another swig from the metal bottle. Deciding she had had enough for the moment, she screwed the cap back onto the flask and stored it.

“How’s Owlicious doing since you’ve been back?” Fluttershy asked timidly.

“He’s been avoiding me lately," Twilight grumbled. "He used to sleep in the library normally, but now he hides in the rafters during the day. But at least he seems happy around Spike…”

“We still haven’t had your coming back party,” A certain bright pink pony said with her normal happy grin.

“I don’t want a party...” the princess stated. “I don’t want to be around large crowds.”

“You’re a princess, crowds tend to happen,” Rainbow stated.

“Last time I was in a massive crowd," Twilight said, "half of them wanted to kill the other half.”

“You know that type of thing doesn’t happen here," Rainbow shot back. "there hasn’t been any serious fighting since Nightmare Moon.”

“Just be glad you weren’t in the Mojave…”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Twilight walked back into her empty castle, noting that there wasn't even a speck of dust around. Spike refused to accept the fact that she wasn't coming back and made sure the castle was kept clean for Twilight's return. Much to his surprise, however, when she did return he was shocked to hear that she didn't care one way or another, stating that during her time in the Mojave she was only able to bathe a few times during the year she was there and that she had literally spent most of her time sleeping in the dirt.

Upon her return she found that she was no longer able to sleep in her bed, it being far too soft for her. Unable to get comfortable in her own bed, she settled with spending the nights sleeping on the floor of her room with nothing more than a blanket and a pillow.

Spike had kept himself relatively busy since she left, pretty much becoming Ponyville’s handyman. Even though the other princesses said they would be more than happy to have cleaners and such take care of the castle for him, the drake just sent them away.

“I made oatmeal cookies, would you like some?” The dragon asked as Twilight walked through the castle.

“Yeah… I guess," She responded with a sigh, deciding she should stop pacing around. "I’ll be in my study.”

She didn’t really use her study for what it was intended for anymore, she felt restless with just reading books and wanted to do something instead. Inside her study were what would normally be expected; pens, ink, scrolls, and books. But there were also some things that she had brought with her from the Mojave. On shelves and in stands were her little trophies she had collected during her time in the wasteland, like the broken hilt of a Legate Lanus. There was her first pistol, complete with the scratches and dents from all the use in a locked case along with her revolver, Lucky. Her ‘armor’ was on a mannequin, the tears and bullet holes visibly stitched up. There was an unopened bottle of Whiskey and Nuka Cola, as well as a number of books. And finally, there was an old rundown teddy bear that she had on her desk, right next to a framed picture of her and all her friends from the Mojave that had been taken after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam.

Sitting down at her table, she pulled the knife out of the sheath she had strapped under her wing and stabbed the tip into the corner of the table. Letting her head rest on the table, she closed her eyes as she just let her thoughts wander, something she found herself doing a lot lately.

“Lucky for you I was also making some cocoa,” a certain voice said as the patter of his claws on the marble floor.

“Thanks,” Twilight mumbled. Sitting back up, she looked over at Spike with a plate of cookies and a steaming cup with a smile. Reaching out, she affectionately ran a forehoof over the spines on his head. “Best assistant a pony could ask for…”

Spike beamed at the praise, placing the two items down on the table next to her. Taking a seat at a shorter table he smiled at the princess.

“Pinkie keeps telling me to help with a surprise party for you, but I know you really don’t want one," he said. "I’ve been trying to convince her otherwise, but you know how she can get.”

“She keeps bringing it up to me as well…" Twilight said. "It isn’t much of a surprise if I know it's going to happen.”

“I think she just doesn't want to scare you by having half of Ponyville in your room all of a sudden,” Spike said with a shrug.

Twilight picked up one of the warm cookies, smiling softly at the homely smell from them before bringing it to her mouth and taking a large munch. They were moist, but not so much so that they become soggy, with a nice crunch on the outside that made it pleasant to bite into. Picking up the hot mug, she took a drink from the liquid inside and tasted the sweet chocolaty flavor mixed with the milk.

Spike had been really supportive of her when she got back, staying with her the entire time she was kept in the hospital while doctors checked her over. Although there were a few times he had gotten curious, he wasn’t asking a whole bunch of questions about all the stuff she did, opting instead to ask mainly about her wellbeing and if there was anything he could do for her. He had really grown up a lot since she went missing, and she had yet to decide if that was a good thing or not as he had lost a lot of his childlike behavior…

‘THUD’

…But not all of it.

Twilight sighed as she put down her mug, taking the small pile of books Spike had accidentally pulled down on himself as he was sitting on the coffee table.

“Sometimes I wonder if you’re still a hatchling or not…” She joked as she picked him up by the tail with her magic and lifted him up in front of her.

Huffing, he crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked away in embarrassment.

“You need to stop just leaving piles of your stuff everywhere,” He stated.

She chuckled and floated him over to her, pulling him into a tight hug, a hug he didn't hesitate to return.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“Have any threes?” Twilight asked, looking up from her cards over to the princess of the night before her. The two of them were sitting in the middle of a large black void, surrounded by nothing but the calm and peaceful light of the stars.

“Go fish,” Luna stated.

Twilight had nightmares on an almost nightly basis, and when she did Luna always came in and pulled her out of it to the best of her ability. Sometimes she was unable to break the hold of the nightmare, but when she could she would spend some time with the younger princess, normally playing some card games or a round of chess.

“It has been two months since you have come back to us, how does your recovery fair so far?” Luna asked offhandedly.

“Better than when I first got back," Twilight responded. "I’ve stopped yelling as much as I did when I got upset. I also haven’t gotten into a fight since that Thunderlane incident.”

“I was informed that you used that ‘gun’ of yours again," Luna said, glancing up from her cards. "You know it scares the foals when they hear it…”

“I know," Twilight sighed, "but the BB gun that was packed didn’t have the same kind of kick a real one has…”

Having no idea what the younger pony was talking about, Luna fell back on a tactic that had served her well in her long tenure as a princess; she just nodded slowly in response.

“I don’t want to take anything away from you that makes you feel safer," Luna said, "but you can’t keep scaring the other ponies in town.”

“I guess I’ll go into the Everfree if I want to shoot again…” Twilight sighed again tiredly.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Twilight found herself sat across a crystal table from Spike, the two of them having a nice lunch together consisting of a burger and hay fries for the pony and porridge and gems for the drake. Twilight was enjoying the time with her surrogate brother/son.

“Did they have nice food where you got lost?” Spike asked, gaping at how Twilight was almost inhaling her food from with gusto.

“Some of it was two hundred years old packaged junk,” She grimaced, the phantom taste of the dusty old snack cakes filling her mind.

“Didn’t they have fresh stuff?” Spike grimaced.

“Well, they did, but it tended to be radioactive, which is kind of like a poison that gives you cancer and tumors.” She stated while grimacing.

“I see why you didn’t eat that then…” Spike said.

“To be honest, it was the least of most people’s worries there. Everything wanted to kill you, including the insects which were bigger than even you.” Twilight stated. “The worst was the Cazadors, giant wasps that have the most painful sting I could think of.”

“I’m just glad you got back… Home wasn’t the same without you here.” Spike said reaching over the table and resting his claw on Twilight’s hoof.

Twilight smiled softly. “Thanks…" Twilight smiled softly, "It’s good to be back.”

Author's Note:

The prologue for the new story! I hope you guys enjoy having some new adventures for Twilight!

Edited by my brand new Editor Scootalooftw!

Comments

[Helljumper206]

Would you like an editor to do spelling corrections over your work?

[coduss]

(not)fun fact about cazadors! they're mutant tarantula hawks, so rather than kill and eat someone they'd more than likely drag them back to a nest and use them as an incubator for an larva which would eat its way out of them when it hatched

[BronyAirman2552]

Twi's readjustment reminds me of one of my friends. He was in the army, like me. But unlike me, he was sent to fight in the middle East, while I got a comfortable duty station in Japan. When we met each other again, he wasn't really the same, to say the least. It took a while, but he was eventually able to readjust to civilian life.